Start-up Hardware costs seem to be 40-60% and energy used is alot less with the Alpha Card.  Again production is sketchy because I saw one of the prototypes based on fpga technology.

If this is the real deal would be more efficient power-wise.  Hardware wise is a toss up because resale value of the components 6-9 months out are ALOT less than a mining rig with High end cards like R9 290 and nice PSUs.